KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi

[9.0] "A simple, minimalistic story executed perfectly. KENTA wants to prove himself to his mentor and constantly irritates Kobashi with his brutal kicks, while Kobashi responds by overwhelming him and reminding the young prodigy exactly where he stands. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Holy shit, what an opening to this match. KENTA came out like he had something to prove, immediately going on the offensive with relentless aggression. You could see the surprise and then the anger on Kobashi's face as he realized KENTA actually had the audacity to come at him like that. Eventually, the pace slowed down, but the stiffness never let up. If anything, the strikes became even more brutal once Kobashi took control. It felt like he was determined to teach KENTA a lesson for daring to challenge him so aggressively. To KENTA's credit, he showed incredible heart throughout, refusing to back down while also pulling off some creative offense against Kobashi despite the obvious size and strength disadvantage."

[8.0] "I loved this. KENTA is an absolute prick at the start laying into Kobashi and even busts his mouth open with a kick. The look on Kobashis face at how furious he is with the punk kid is priceless so he decides to teach him a lesson he won't forget any time soon. KENTA shows heart in trying to survive but it is only a matter of time before he is out for the count. Such simple but brilliant story telling."

[10.0] "Chops vs kicks, goddamn. Kobashi's offense largely consists of just chops but if your chops are as good as his, that's better than most other guys' movesets. I mean they literally sound like whippings, and KENTA's kicks sound life muffled gunshots. This match had more hits than some MMA matches I've seen. So fucking stiff. They absolutely brutalized each other. The storytelling is absolutely perfect, they play their roles absolutely perfectly, KENTA being the hotheaded disrespectful up-and-comer and Kobashi being the veteran babyface who shuts KENTA's shit down. I think this match is grossly underrated, it's certainly a five star match for me. My review ends here but I just had to mention that knee to the neck KENTA did. Holy fuck."

[8.0] "A great star-making performance for KENTA here (even better than the match he had against Takayama earlier in the year). I loved the Burning Hammer teaser from KENTA. It was a bit short and the result was obvious, but it was really good overall."

[7.0] "The legend-vs-upstart and master-vs-pupil story here was great -- perfectly communicated through all the different interactions these two produced. Kobashi absolutely brutalised Kenta for most of the match with his massive chops and various other signature moves, but Kenta showed tremendous heart as he fought back with his lighter but speedier offence which was also quite stiff, featuring many wonderful kicks and slaps among other things. Kenta's bumping and selling was tremendous, though to be fair when it comes to Kobashi it doesn't take much for you to tell the damage. His displays of arrogance were awesome as well, showing how he was making the best of it whenever he managed to gain brief control, and perhaps also showing that he was hoping that such confidence would make his offence more impactful. The hope spots and counters were always very exciting, even though it was obvious that Kenta wouldn't be winning here in a million years. There were quite a few very cool spots all throughout the match, like Kenta for the first time introducing his signature rope-jump feint into the back heel, stealing Kobashi's machine-gun chops before going for the Kawada kicks, and doing an inverted GTS that at first seemed to be him stealing Kobashi's Burning Hammer. All those such spots really helped elevate this match above a mere trial match and into something special. Kobashi looked fantastic as he just smashed Kenta with massive power moves and strikes one after the other at the end, with Kenta still getting a bit of a rub as he managed to kick-out of quite a few flurries before eventually falling to the Burning Hammer. Even back here in 2004, it's clear that Kenta was capable of producing a ****1/4+ match with Kobashi if they so wished, but this match about him ultimately getting dominated by the company's ace but looking great in defeat ' an objective these two definitely accomplished. ***3/4"

[9.0] "Absolute chills. This ranks amongst the greatest master versus protege matches I have ever seen. The brash, arrogant, and defiant KENTA looking to prove that his Junior Heavyweight status would not prevent him from taking the torch and leading Pro Wrestling NOAH into the future. That is established early as KENTA blatantly disrespects the current flag bearer and attempts to embarrass and brutalize him both in and out of the ring. That arrogance proves costly, as the much bigger Kenta Kobashi dominates KENTA in a legitimately uncomfortable manner. And that is exactly what makes this match so special. It is SUPPOSED to be uncomfortable when someone that much bigger is dominating their opponent. That is made even more effective by KENTA selling as well as you will ever see someone sell. It also grows in its beauty when KENTA finally comes back and proves that he can hang suggests Kobashi and even flirt with victory. It's enhanced even further by the fact that Kobashi is such a pure babyface being put in the uncomfortable position of teaching KENTA what it means to make the leap. And he does so with strikes, grapples, and submissions in masterful fashion. The storytelling was simply phenomenal here, including KENTA attempting the Burning Hammer, being unable to get the bigger opponent over, and still showing the innovation to hit an Inverted GTS. Plus, KENTA earns near falls that completely maintain the raw hope that he will prevail while simultaneously reiterating that he is in an uphill battle unlike any he is faced before. Capped off by Kobashi putting together a closing sequence of heavy offense, with KENTA just barely preventing defeat, this was magnificent. Including what did and did not happen to finally end this classic. 4. 75 stars, 9. 5 out of 10."

[9.0] "This is just something. Absolutely different wrestling level. I will be honest - I have not watched old matches with Kobashi before, thinking that I have already gone too far from this era and I don? t understand anything. However, everything was completely different. I am surprised that this fight on the Cagematch received 7. 65, and from Meltzer 4 *. There was everything, including absolutely smart psychology. The plot of the father and son / teacher-student is very clearly seen throughout the match. There are a lot of moments when Hideo falls exhausted, but breaks out time after time, proving to his teacher that he is not weak. Every Kobashi chop is filled with incredible power. It even hurts to imagine what happened to Itami? s chest after the battle. A great match. My rating: 4. 75"

[10.0] "Holy shit what a match. Everything from beginning to end was absolutely fantastic. Starts with a lock up & as they do that Kobashi pushes KENTA to the ropes. He goes for a clean break, but KENTA is having none of it; he just shamelessly starts kicking the shit out of Kobashi. That leads to Kobashi getting a bit pissed & they start trading strikes - KENTA wins the exchange due to his quickness. He is now being a total dick just kicking his mentor's ear & face. Now Kobashi is truly PISSED. He starts mauling the shit out of young KENTA with those GOAT chops of his - KENTA tries to come back with those quick, stiff kicks of his, but Kobashi shuts him down quickly with those damn chops. My goodness. The rest of the match is mostly dominated by Kobashi, who like any good mentor would just stretches & beats the shit out of KENTA. KENTA gets some big comeback spots in, but ultimately everything is shut down by the champ. What a goddamn match. ****3/4"

[8.0] "I very much enjoyed the tale of this match - Kobashi struggling to rid himself of the pesky, fiery, vibrant, younger but smaller competitor. Yet Kobashi is such a natural, salt-of-the-earth babyface, (for anyone who's ever read George Eliot... he's an Adam Bede) that even when he seemingly unnaturally contorts Kenta's body or places him in other submissions it looks like a wizened uncle teaching his fresh underlings a lesson. I was also pleased, that unlike the Takayama bout at Korakuen some months earlier, Kenta did not execute any strength maneuvers, outside a modified version of the GTS, on the much bigger man. Their in-ring chemistry wasn't as good as Kenta had had with Takayama but it's a solid, intelligent bout nonetheless."

[8.0] "From the opening bell to the brutal end, a fan-****ing-tastic match, and one of the stiffest matches I’ve seen in forever. This was stiffer than Kensuke/Kobashi at Destiny, and by quite a large margin. Both men just killed each other. Unlike Kensuke/Kobashi, I actually liked this match’s story more, since it was much more emotional. KENTA wanted Kobashi not to treat him like a child, and forced Kobashi not to by kicking him so damn hard. Kobashi, on the other hand, took KENTA’s offense as a sign of defiance and was determined to put KENTA in his place by making his usually insanely stiff chops even stiffer. Psychology, pace, flow, and selling all delivered in spades equally as well, and, point blank, this was simply a great match"